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BellSouth Signs Long-Term Commercial Agreements with Four Additional Wholesale Carriers ATLANTA, May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BellSouth today announced the signing of long-term commercial agreements with four additional wholesale carriers including ABC Telecom, INET, KingTel and WebShoppe for the provisioning of wholesale local phone services throughout the nine-state BellSouth region in the Southeast. This brings the total to seven commercial agreements for BellSouth. "The negotiations continue to be successful as our customers and BellSouth recognize the opportunity of working toward a free marketplace where economics will replace an unproductive cycle of litigation," said Keith Cowan, President of BellSouth Interconnection Services. BellSouth also announced that, due to the high level of interest in its offer and the success of current negotiations, the company is extending its offer to negotiate wholesale agreements for access to the BellSouth network. BellSouth's wholesale switching offer includes a net increase of zero for mass market customers for the remainder of 2004, then introduces commercial rates with modest increases that would be phased in over 36 months. Since the FCC's call for the negotiation of commercial agreements, BellSouth has executed nondisclosure agreements with more than 60 telecommunications carriers. These non-disclosure agreements set the framework for ongoing, confidential negotiations of commercial terms. BellSouth has also executed letters of intent with three other wholesale carrier customers. BellSouth previously announced long-term commercial agreements with Dialogical Communications, Inc., International Telnet and CI2. In addition, BellSouth is offering a plan to provide an efficient transition from UNE transport and high capacity loops to transport offered via BellSouth's tariffs. About BellSouth Corporation BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and a parent company of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless voice and data provider. Backed by award winning customer service, BellSouth offers the most comprehensive and innovative package of voice and data services available in the market. Through BellSouth Answers(SM), residential and small business customers can bundle their local and long distance service with dial up and high speed DSL Internet access, satellite television and Cingular(R) Wireless service. For businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth also offers online and directory advertising through BellSouth(R) RealPages.com(SM) and The Real Yellow Pages(R). More information about BellSouth can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com/ . MEDIA CONTACT: Al Schweitzer BellSouth 404-829-8741 DATASOURCE: BellSouth Corporation CONTACT: Al Schweitzer of BellSouth, +1-404-829-8741, or Web site: http://www.bellsouth.com/

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